Abstract: This study was conducted to investigate the practise of Nurses when working with depressed patients in an In Care setting. A survey of the literature shows that the role commonly prescribed for nurses who work in psychiatric settings is one that emphasises a one- on -one relationship based on models of psychotherapy and focuses on individual illness, pathology, systems and psycho dynamics. It is suggested that this is not a role which most Nurses working in New Zealand psychiatric settings would be able to implement in practise. Three perspective's of Nursing practise were explored in the study. What Nurses were seen to do in practice. What they thought they should do as evidenced in results of an exercise to rank different possible interventions, and what patients said were helpful Nursing interventions. A framework was developed for the study which depicts the process of helplessness(depression) as the negative 'mirror -image' of the process of self care. Results were analysed within this framework to determine whether or not Nurses tended to support behaviours which were indicative of movement towards helplessness or encourage those which indicated progress towards self care by their interventions. There was little evidence of positive reinforcement for independent or coping behaviours with patients in the study sample. Further, the nursing practise showed little relationship to the role prescribed in the literature. The Nurses did demonstrate a warm caring friendly approach that seemed to stem from a more traditional 'succouring, mothering' view of Nurses' role

Abstract: This paper outlines a phenomenological study carried out to explore the experience of nausea, vomiting and retching associated with pregnancy. These phenomena lack Nursing research and are debilitating symptoms which effect the quality of life for 50-75% of all pregnant women. Madjar ( 1991) indicates that the communication of such experiences can deepen our understanding of human life and coping. It is importance for Nurses to develop an understanding of lived experiences so that they can make more effective interventions. This study explores the essential humanness of life experiences as they are for those who live them. It involved collecting data from those experiencing the phenomena and analysing it. It focuses on the study of phenomena not as separate entities in themselves but as they are perceived as they are experienced. A 'purposeful sample' was required for this study. The aim was to include women who had direct knowledge of the phenomena of nausea, vomiting and retching associated with pregnancy. The study involved in depth interviewing of six women, the interviews were taped and independently transcribed, the transcripts were analysed to determine the meaning of the experience and to identify common themes. The experiences of the women are discussed in relation to what van Manen (1990) describes as four main life world existentials; the lived body, the lived other, lived space and lived time

Abstract: A study of the care given by Nurses measuring the quantity of care available against the quantity demanded by the patients at the time of survey

Abstract: A study of 33 adult patients – 20 Anglo – Australian, 13 Yugoslav- who were admitted for arranged abdominal surgery to three Australian hospitals between January and June 1980. Focusing on the role of cultural factors in the experience of post operative pain the study confirmed the existence of some behavioral differences between Anglo – Australian and Yugoslav patients in terms of their responses to pain. The greatest degree of difference between the two groups however was found in their underlying attitudes to pain

Abstract: This phenomenological study explored the experiences of five men and four women whose lives have been shaped by chronic leg ulcers. It reveals the suffering that accompanies these wounds, and challenges health professionals to move from a focus on wound management to understanding the realities of chronic illness experience